10.28.2005

Shaking Pom-Poms In Heaven

I was in a high balcony, to the far side. Singular beams of light cast upon the stage. And I noticed the words in stone relief arched above the window: soli deo gloria. "Because He is the Lord..." in haunting falsetto harmonies the voices rang out upon a hushed and still crowd.

This was the scene towards the end of the Sufjan and the Illinoise-makers show on Thursday night. It opened with the gorgeous Shara Worden and My Brightest Diamond. When S.S. and his band came out it was like a fourthajuly pep-rally parade. And somehow it evolved on a path through the streets of middle America into an apocalyptic vision of the Seven-fold Spirit of the Swan Lord bursting forth in his solar glory. It all took place in an old church building, now a concert hall called "Paradiso."